And that's life

Another year. We are inclined to muse at these times.

If we've been on the planet long enough, we know there are people who have moved through our lives, in and then gone.

Sometimes it is like the analogy of ships that pass in the night. Yet, over the years there are more who float along with us, our lives intersect at some point and then follow along in the same direction for a considerable time.

The time comes when you and they part ways, not out of anger, nor disinterest. Just changes, just life.

At my age, I could proably list a hundred such people who have come into my life and either disappeared or have moved to the margins of my life.

Think about it. Perhaps you can think of people who fit the same bill.

There was a friend named Jim who lived down the street from me when we were boys, he a bit younger. He was always out and about the street. My mom called him the littlest big man she'd ever known.

Jim and I once tried digging a hole in his side yard that would take us to China. We failed.Jim is a plumber in the Pittsburgh area. Like his dad, he developed a passion for boating on the Three Rivers. I saw him briefly at a class reunion. As boys we were inseparable, learning to like many of the same things. And now• Don't know.

Teachers are good examples of folks who come into your life, sometimes for as long as four years. And then are gone.

I have a few favorite high school teachers and have seen them at all-school reuinions. Apparently they were the favorites of many because they are hard to get near for long enough to have a meaningful conversation.

One particular teacher indulged my interest in theater by seeing that I got to go on class ventures to plays at Carnegie Mellon or to showings of theatrical films, such as Laurence Olivier as Othello.. I think good teachers are like him, able to know what a young person is interested in and then cable enough to encourage them in an almost indirect way.

I majored in theater for my freshman year at college, and it was there that I met two friends whose lives intertwined with mine for a few years beyond college.

Wayne is an actor who now lives in California and works for the National Endowment for the Arts. When I first saw him across a classroom I knew he was more mature than the other students (he had spent a few years in the Army and had been stationed in Germany before starting school.) We knew we were kindred spirits, we had the same senses of humor, thought the same about our fellow students. We could look at each other and start laughing without saying a word.

I lost touch with Wayne for a good number of years and then one day did an Internet search and got lucky, he was doing a one-man show on poet Langston Hughes and I saw an announcement.

I contacted the theater, someone there contacted Wayne and he called me. We stay in touch via the occasional e-mail and I have seen him on one occasion in Pittsburgh.

The other fellow, Jim, I lost touch with. He became a professional puppeteer. He was always was so talented in creating makeups that were unique. For a final in makeup class, he did a character from “Planet of the Apes.” Amazing.

The thing I remember most about him was his kindness to any and all. Once, when I was out or work and trying to network, he set up a meeting for me with David “Mr. McFeely” Newell of “Mister Rogers Neighborhood. I had lunch with Mr. Newell and while it didn't lead directly to a job it was good encouragement during a rough time and a memorable experience. I have Jim to thank for that kindness.

That's the thing about these people that “people” your life. Often we might find ourselves thinking about them: Where are they and what are they doing, how might we see them again, tell them what they have meant, do I have a number or address?

And then tomorrow you go to work and the next day do some chores around home and the next day learn the name of a new coworker and before long the memory of someone creeps back in but you aren't any closer to making the contact.

And that's life.

Meandering appears Fridays. To share your thoughts on this column (or on most anything) with Mike O'Hare, write to the Leader Times, P.O. Box 978, Kittanning, PA 16201 or via e-mail to mohare@tribweb.com